Congressman part of a bipartisan effort to make it easier for Americans to retrofit their homes
Washington, DC – May 7, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI15) voted to boost the American clean energy economy, reducing our dependence on oil from hostile nations, and saving American families $9 billion over 10 years. The Home Star Jobs Bill would provide rebates to homeowners who install energy-saving products and reduce energy use in their homes. Home Star is expected to allow 3 million families to retrofit their homes to be more energy efficient.
Home Star is a short-term program that will restart the assembly lines at factories that manufacture energy efficiency technologies and will put construction workers back on the job installing these improvements in the homes of millions of American families.
The House passed the bill, 246-161. Below are the Congressman’s remarks made on the House Floor:
“Madam Speaker, I am proud to stand in support of HomeStar, which holds much promise in three important areas. First and foremost, it will create jobs. Second, it will lead to greater residential energy efficiency. Third, it has the potential to lead to significant consumer savings.
“In terms of jobs, Madam Speaker, my home state of Michigan is in a desperate situation. Our current unemployment rate is 14.3 percent and Wayne County has an unemployment rate of 15.7 percent. Between 2001 and 2009, Michigan lost nearly 43 percent of its construction jobs. The bottom line, we need jobs and we need them desperately. This program has the potential to put 168,000 workers back on the job. Not only will this help individual workers, but also small business, which has been a particularly hard hit segment of our economy. We cannot afford not to move forward.
“According the HomeStar Coalition the energy efficiency gains have the potential to equal the removal of 615,000 cars from the road. This is particularly important since the Senate has yet to act on broader climate change legislation.
“Finally, this program will be of great benefit to homeowners. This could save families as much as $9.4 billion in energy costs over ten years. In addition, it makes homes more valuable. In these economic times, these savings and increased home values cannot be underestimated.
“Madam Speaker, HomeStar follows on the heels of the wildly successful Cash for Clunkers program in which the federal government provided consumers vouchers to purchase new, more fuel-efficient vehicles. The initial allocation of $1 billion was exhausted sooner than anticipated and we had to secure an additional $2 billion in funding for the program. Cash-for-clunkers was responsible for the sale of nearly 700,000 new vehicles in the U.S. during its run, and it added nearly one percent to third quarter GDP growth. Cash-for-clunkers has been hailed as the most successful of all recent government economic stimulus programs. According to the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), cash-for-clunkers created approximately 40,200 new jobs nationally, of which 5,800 were in Michigan.
“I urge all my colleagues to support this important legislation.”
Press Contact:
Adam Benson
202/225-4071 (office)
202/271-8587 (cell)
